Thursday, March 29, 2018

Blog Kiosk: 3/29/2018 - Dodgers Links - Opening Day Odds and Ends

You will rarely see a more fantastic Opening Day snapshot than the one above. Featured is a circa 1941 fan-taken photograph of the famed facade of Ebbets Field. It recently sold on eBay at $31.00. (auction link here).

Below are more links to check out:

This Day in Dodgers History: In 2004 the Dodgers purchased outfielder Jason Grabowski from the A's. They also traded reliever Jason Frasor to the Blue Jays for outfielder Jason Werth. In 2008 the Dodgers played a pregame exhibition game at the LA Coliseum against the Boston Red Sox in celebration of the 50th annniversary of the club's move from Brooklyn to Los Angeles. A crowd of 115,300 attended -- the largest to ever see a Baseball game.

The pollster extraordinaire's at FiveThirtyEight have just released their predictions for the 2018 Baseball season, here. They predict the Dodgers will end the season with a 97-65 record and have an 13% chance of winning the World Series.

Per Michael Duarte at NBC Washington; "Bet Ends in Dodgers Donating $2M to Puerto Rico Relief Efforts: The story of how a friendly bet between Los Angeles Dodgers owner Mark Walter and utility player Enrique Hernandez sent the Dodgers to the World Series and raised over $2 million for Puerto Rico in the process."

Reportedly, Hernandez asked for Walter's help in the fundraising efforts and the Chairman told Hernandez that he would donate $1 million if Hernandez reached base twice in the potential World Series-clinching game.

“I’ve liked the way that he came into camp in great shape. I’ve liked the way that’s he’s mixing with the guys, coaches, players,” Roberts said. “He’s always been a professional in the way that he prepares for each day, that’s been very consistent.

Via Jerry Crasnick at ESPN; "Clayton Kershaw at 30: A decade of dominance as seen by the ace and those who know him best."

"He had kind of a youthful swagger about him that a lot of us fell in love with," Sweeney said. "It was almost like he couldn't believe it was happening. He had the ability to have fun all the way leading up to the day he was pitching, and then he was locked in. You don't usually see that from kids. Plus, Rick Honeycutt was perfect for him. They had a real good relationship that I felt was essential for him. When you don't have veteran guys, you need a confidant, and I think Rick was that. Which was really cool."

“The thing I picked up was to have an appreciation for all the different jobs everybody around you does. Because in those small markets you have to do everything,” Rizzo said. “But I think it’s important to go to those small markets and pay your dues.

“I think there’s a lot of value in being able to pay your dues and do all the jobs around you. Everybody sees the final product and looks at it as such a glamorous job and glamorous life. But there’s very few people that can really visualize the steps of everything it takes to get to that end job.”

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“There’s nothing like wearing a Dodger jersey. There’s nothing like it in sports. I don’t care that I’ve never been anywhere else. I don’t care. There’s nothing like wearing a Dodger jersey.” -- A.J. Ellis